Video for Ashcroft single scrapped

Ex-Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft's new U.K. single is called "Money To Burn," and apparently he means it.

According to a report in London's Daily Mirror, Ashcroft completed a video with Jonathan Glazer for the track, but opted to scrap the completed half-million pound shoot (equivalent to about $1,117,000).

Glazer masterminded an award-winning TV campaign for Guinness beer in Britain and also filmed Ashcroft's last video, "A Song For The Lovers." The Mirror said Ashcroft had a change of heart after his wife, Kate Radley, objected to the use of scantily clad dancing girls, although officially, Ashcroft ditched Glazer's take on the song because "he didn't feel it captured the mood of the song."

The expense won't end there. The Mirror reported Ashcroft and company hired a new director and crew and set the new version of the video on Wall Street.

Former Verve Frontman's Solo Debut Surprisingly Upbeat Richard Ashcroft addresses 'joyous, celebratory facets of life' on new album.

NEW YORK - With his intense gaze, sharp features and long sideburns, former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft was still easily recognizable last week as the guy who shoved aside hapless pedestrians in the much-played video for "Bittersweet Symphony," his band's 1997 breakthrough hit.

But the singer no longer has the gaunt, hollow-cheeked look of the past, and he's lost some of his pallor - physical evidence, perhaps, of the newfound contentment he sings of on his debut solo album, Alone With Everybody.

"I probably touched on more darker elements [in the past], and I hadn't expressed myself in the more joyous, celebratory facets of life. I've got many things to celebrate about, and I wanted to put that down on record," Ashcroft said as he sat in his publicist's Gramercy Park office last week.

The singer, a 28-year-old native of the small English city of Wigan, is married to former Spiritualized member Kate Radley, who recently gave birth to a boy.

Songs such as the upbeat "Crazy World" and the ballad "You on My Mind(in My Sleep)," are unabashedly sweet love songs that show not a trace of the bitterness and despair that marked some of Ashcroft's earlier lyrics with the Verve, who broke up last year.

At the same time, with its rich orchestral arrangements and layered vocals, Alone With Everybody, scheduled for U.S. release June 27, is unmistakably the work of the Verve's former frontman.

"Sonically, I wanted to take off where I'd left off on the last album," Ashcroft said. "I thought there was unfinished business as far as what I discovered in the studio making 'Bittersweet Symphony' and some of those tracks."

'There's No Boundaries'

Driven by strings and thickly stacked vocal tracks, "A Song for the Lovers," the album's first single in the UK, is squarely in the vein of the Verve's final album, Urban Hymns. That album spawned the hits "Bittersweet Symphony" and "The Drugs Don't Work."

On other tracks, though, Ashcroft strays far from the Verve's psychedelic sound. "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" is straight-ahead, guitar- and piano-driven rock, with a melody that owes a debt to the Four Tops' '60s hit "Reach Out I'll Be There."

"Money to Burn," meanwhile, combines a looped beat with honky-tonk guitars, horns and classic rock 'n' roll sentiments: "I got money to burn I wanna burn it to you/ C'mon, yeah we got one short life I wanna spend it with you," Ashcroft croons.

"He's drawing more from his influences [and] I think it can only be a good thing," Nick Saunders, a 28-year-old Verve fan from Hertfordshire, England, wrote in an email. "You can hear country, blues, gospel, hip-hop and even Elvis in ... 'Money to Burn.' "

Several other Verve fans who've heard Ashcroft's new music said they were excited about his new direction, though some pined for the Verve of old.

"Fans of Verve's earlier albums ... who didn't care for Urban Hymns' more pop-oriented approach have already jumped ship," Matthew Keith, a 28-year-old from Pittsburgh, wrote in an email. "Those who have grown with Richard will embrace the project. Those that never knew Verve until 'Bittersweet Symphony' will love it."

Ashcroft, who cites Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Brian Wilson among his influences, said that he was anxious to combine sounds from different eras and genres on his album. But he was equally intent on crafting songs that worked even without elaborate arrangements.

"There's no boundaries - there's nothing that can't be combined with something else ... and I think that's the only way that roots, traditional kind of rock 'n' roll, can ever grow or survive," he said. "But the real core of the song still has to be there - [you] still have to be able to pick a guitar or a piano and sing that song and it has to move people. There has to be a foundation to build all the madness on."

First Solo U.S. Tour In Works

Ashcroft displayed his songs' foundations Friday evening in one of his first solo performances, a brief acoustic set at the intimate Manhattan venue Joe's Pub.

He stripped his arrangements down to simple chord-strumming, singing straightforward, passionate versions of such album tracks as "New York" and "I Get My Beat," in addition to the Verve's "Lucky Man" and "Bittersweet Symphony."

Ashcroft, who periodically posts video and audio clips on his official Web site (www.richardashcroft.co.uk), is scheduled to play the V2000 Festival in England in August. He also plans to mount his first solo tour of the United States in the fall.

• Source: Sonicnet, written by Staff Writer Brian Hiatt

Toronto's secret gig

Richard made his first solo live appearance last night at a secret gig in Toronto, Canada.

This was the first time Richard has played a show since The Verve's farewell appearance in front of 100,000 people at Slane Castle, Ireland in August 1998 and it came in front of just 100 people at a club called Ted's Wrecking Yard at 6.30pm on Thursday 18th May 2000.

The atmosphere in the tiny upstairs room had reached fever pitch by the time Ashcroft took to the stage which was lit only by a couple of candles and a few little lamps. The audience, made up of a mixture of competition winners, media and in-the know Toronto scenesters all sported a special laminated pass showing the sleeve from the forthcoming "Alone With Everybody" LP that acted as a ticket for the gig.

Performing alone, Richard played 6 songs in total, 5 from the new album and an acoustic version of "Bittersweet Symphony."

The full set list was as follows:

1. A Song For The Lovers
2. Bittersweet Symphony
3. You On My Mind In My Sleep
4. On A Beach
5. Money To Burn
6. Get My Beat

The gig was an opportunity to hear the songs from the new LP in their barest form, with just the vocal and guitar. "A Song For The Lovers" kicked it all off with it's already instant familiarity, and after the crowdpleasing "Bittersweet" an aching "You On My Mind In My Sleep" was a warm, devotional country-soul ballad . A frazzled, electric "On A Beach" followed, before an acoustic version of forthcoming single "Money To Burn" that grew and grew to the most emphatic response of the evening. The set closed with "Get My Beat" which sounds on this evidence like a big, warm Smokey Robinson type tune with hooks all over the place. There was no encore.

Richard is in America and Canada on a round of promotion for the "Alone With Everybody" LP which comes out on June 27th.

Richard Ashcroft Draws Inspiration From Joy Division

A little more than a year after formally putting The Verve to rest, Richard Ashcroft is nearing the much-anticipated release of his first solo album, "Alone With Everybody," and has already issued the initial single and video from the LP, the sweeping "A Song For The Lovers."

According to the former frontman for The Verve, "A Song For The Lovers" was inspired by his wife, Kate Radley, as well as a certain Joy Division song Ashcroft heard one night while holed up in a seedy U.K. hotel.

"'A Song For The Lovers,' if I look back, it's kind of inspired by my own love affair with Kate and a moment when I was in a hotel room," Ashcroft explained. "It was a pretty basic punk rock hotel room, and there was a kind of Formica bedhead with a built-in radio. There were only two stations that you could pick up on there, and for some reason one of these stations played 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division.

"Even though it seems like an odd one to compare with my [song], it seemed to fit the moment, because it was so odd to hear this great piece of music on this very dour, boring radio station."

"So, that fused a few ideas and I had some chords," he continued, "and it was sort of playing on a 'Play Misty For Me' vibe, mixing a bit of me and my thing and then rollin' it into the imagination [about] those moments when you're on the verge. You're on the verge of something.

"You're on the verge of a love affair, and the fact that this could be the love affair of your life, this could be a complete disaster, this could be a mistake. [It's] that anxiety and excitement you feel beforehand, when it's 'Moving like a train/Into some foreign land/I haven't got a ticket for it,' but I'm on it. I'm doing it," Ashcroft said, paraphrasing the song's lyrics.

"It's just kind of fusing an emotion into a track," he added, "and when the track bursts into its instrumental bit after that rant, that's it. That's the moment for me. I should have put just that on the record, just that one moment."

While in New York City last week to complete promotional rounds for the new record, Ashcroft shot scenes on Wall Street for his next single and video, "Money To Burn."

"Alone With Everybody" is due in stores on June 27, and Ashcroft is tentatively expected to tour the U.S. following its release.

• Source: MTV, written by David Basham

Richard Ashcroft basks in joys of fatherhood

The Verve's ex-frontman Richard Ashcroft is getting ready to release his first solo album, "Alone With Everybody," on Virgin Records on June 27, and in the meantime he's been getting a crash course in parenting a newborn.

Ashcroft and wife Kate Radley, the former Spiritualized keyboardist who also plays on her husband's new record, gave birth to a boy named Sonny on March 23 (see "Ex-Verve Frontman Richard Ashcroft Fathers Son").

Despite the hectic promotional schedule for his new solo album, Ashcroft told MTV News that he has managed to fit some sleep into his schedule in between changing diapers and minding Sonny.

"I've managed to grab a few hours [of sleep] now and then," Ashcroft said. "Kate's not so [lucky], and I'm due for a good stint of sleepless nights. For some reason, I could never get to sleep before 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., so it was looking like 'Great, you're lined up for the night shift.'

"As soon as Sonny arrived, I was fast asleep by 10:00 p.m. I don't know whether it was such an emotional experience that I needed to sleep or something, but the tables have been shifted. Now I find myself, like I said, fast asleep at 9:00 or 10:00, so I'm gonna have to do something about that.

"But it was an incredible experience," he said, "and continues to be, on a daily basis, an affirmation of life from the moment I wake up, which is an incredible feeling."

Ashcroft also mentioned that the completion of his "Alone With Everybody" album came at almost the exact same time as Sonny's birth.

"It was almost a race at one point," he said. "It was very strange, racing to see if we could get the album done in time, and I think we sort of said we finished it two days before he arrived, and I think we had to do one recall on a track after he was born.

"So it was a very closely run thing, and something that was obviously in the back of my mind all the way through the recording of the album, pretty much. [Particularly] the last seven or eight months of it, anyway."

"A Song For The Lovers," a track Ashcroft said was inspired, in part, by the Joy Division classic "Love Will Tear Us Apart," is the first single from "Alone With Everybody," and Ashcroft has already lined up "Money To Burn" as the second single from the record.

• Written by David Basham

Ashcroft's Wall Street Shuffle

The ex-Verve frontman plays his second solo set since the band split before a tiny, rapturous audience in New York...

By the time Richard Ashcroft steps in front of the industry-only crowd at Joe's Pub in New York City on Friday night (May 19), he's had a long day, even though it's only 7 p.m. It's because he was up at an hour unheard of for a rock star.

By 8:30 a.m., Ashcroft had joined the legions of suits on Wall Street, where he spent the day shooting the video for 'Money To Burn'. Later that night, the former Verve frontman hovers over a photographer, points to the bags under his eyes, and asks, "How many records do you think this will sell?" The hope is, lots. Ashcroft's hush-hush gig in downtown Manhattan attracts both the attention and respect of a crowd notorious for being nonplussed. He performs seven complete songs and two snippets.

His set begins with 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' and includes 'I Get My Beat', 'You On My Mind (In My Sleep)', 'Money To Burn' and 'C'Mon People (We're Making It Now)', and he dedicates 'Lucky Man' to his wife Kate, who is sitting front and center, and his son Sonny.

On 'New York', Ashcroft changes the lyrics for the local crowd. Referring to NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose marital problems, disclosure of cancer and failed Senate bid have made him the talk of the town, Ashcroft chips in: "I heard Giuliani's really cleaned this place up/But I can still find 1,000 ways to get messed up." The New Yorkers cheer.

Throughout the set, the lanky singer sticks to his 12-string guitar, except for 'On A Beach', when he switches to an electric. But something's not right and he stops strumming, declaring, "Not tonight, people." He also teases - and surprises - by playing just a bit of 'So Sister', a B-side to 'Urban Hymns'' 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'. His tambourine, untouched all night, hangs on one of two mikes, and he never ends up playing 'Alone With Everybody''s first single, 'A Song For the Lovers'.

Oddly, the "collectible" of the evening is not Ashcroft's set list or sweat-drenched towel. It is his cigarettes. He lights up before a song and when it's time to play, he passes his half-smoked stogie to a member of the audience. Surprised by the clamor he causes, Ashcroft assures the crowd it's no big deal, he's got more. Later on, when he smokes another and stamps it out on the floor, someone quickly grabs the butt. The cigarette may be out, but Ashcroft is still smoking.

• NME

Richard shoots new video in Manhattan

Richard spent Friday morning (May 19th 2000) in New York shooting the video for "Money To Burn". He came up with the idea just 3 days earlier "over a cup of coffee and a spliff" and 72 hours later he was walking through a sea of suited and booted financiers on Wall St. at 7.30am singing "Money To Burn" to camera.

We spoke to Richard on location:

"It was extraordinary, they just came in waves out of the subway, thousands of men in suits with umbrellas in the pouring rain, whilst I walked amongst them with the guitar. I had an earpiece in so there was no track blaring out, the cameras were well hidden so they were oblivious to what was going on. It was bizarre because it just didn't register with them, they just had their heads down and their umbrellas up and carried on walking - it'll look amazing."

Other parts of the video were shot on Mercer St. in the Soho area of town. The video was shot by LA-based British director Robert Hales.

Richard plays second secret gig in New York

Following on from Thursday's, gig in Toronto, Richard played a second secret show at Joe's Pub, Lafayette St. in New York City.

Without the first night nerves, Ashcroft appeared more relaxed and talkative than the previous night's show and played a slightly longer set. He swapped jokes with the audience and even responded to a request, playing a couple of verses from "So Sister", a b-side from "Bittersweet Symphony". A storming version of "Lucky Man" was one of the highlights of the evening.

The set list was as follows:

1. Bittersweet Symphony
2. Get My Beat
3. You On My Mind In My Sleep
4. Lucky Man
5. So Sister
6. Money To Burn
7. On A Beach
8. New York
9. C'mon People (We're Making It Now)

Like Toronto, the set was all played on acoustic guitar apart from "On A Beach". Richard also added a couple of lines to songs in the set. During "Get My Beat" Richard added ; "We've got a righteous thing we can't sell it for the dream, yes there's something that the dollar can't buy" and in "New York", the line "Well I hear that Guiliani has cleaned this place up, but I still found 1000 ways, to get myself messed up".

Next up for Richard is a round of promotion in Europe before heading into rehearsals with a full band for V2000.

Review - Ted's Wrecking Yard, Toronto, Ontario

"This is the first for me since Slane Castle, which was for 80,000 people," says Richard Ashcroft just before completing his brief 30-minute stand at Toronto's Ted's Wrecking Yard, the first stage he's stood upon since the Verve's last hurrah in August of '98. "It's good. It's better."

Most of us would view a 79,880-person drop-off in attendance as a major cause for alarm, but for Ashcroft, this solo acoustic showcase for an industry-only crowd of 200 is the perfect reintroduction. Showing no signs of stress from his hectic Toronto stop - his morning flight from New York was delayed over four hours, forcing him to cram a full day's worth of interviews into three hours - Ashcroft offers a six-song reminder that, behind all the orchestral grandeur and multi-textured majesty of his recorded output lies the soul of a classic-pop songwriter.

With the normally grungey confines of Ted's Wrecking Yard decorated in elegant white drapes - which served as projection screens for the artwork gracing his upcoming solo debut, 'Alone With Everybody' - Ashcroft takes the stage looking like he just walked out of the Bitter Sweet Symphony video, though augmented with shades, a sparkling diamond crucifix and sandals (which seemed quite appropriate given the folky vibe). With candles, amps and two guitars forming a semi-circle
behind him, he begins with 'A Song For The Lovers', which despite being robbed of its soaring symphonic sweep, loses not an ounce of passion in the translation.

From there, it's a gloriously gritty run through 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', which conjures so much Neil Youngian ragged glory that his 12-string shorts out during the second verse. No worries - while his tech fumbles about his feet, our Richard freestyles: "I move my feet/ and won't skip a beat/ I am free again". The guitar gets sorted for the chorus, but the ecstatic crowd response drowns it out.

Clearly touched, he dedicates 'You On My Mind In My Dreams' (call it 'Luckier Man') to new son Sonny and wife Kate (who's in attendance); straps on the electric for the shimmering psychedelic ballad 'On A Beach' before giving up after two verses; goes six-string acoustic for the joyous gospel hootenanny 'Money To Burn'; and bids adieu with a 12-string rendering of the Al Green-goes-Britpop crooner 'Get My
Beat'. With the notoriously blabbermouthed Toronto music-biz crowd seduced into rapturous silence, Ashcroft leaves no doubt that they got it.

•  Source: NME, written by Stuart Berman

Richard Ashcroft: First ever gig as a solo artist

Richard Ashcroft played his first ever gig as a solo artist in Toronto last night (May 18). The gig took place at Ted's Wrecking Yard, with Ashcroft playing a six-song, 30-minute set in front of an invited audience of 200 American journalists - his first live performance since The Verve's swansong show at Slane Castle in Dublin in 1998.

At the show, Ashcroft, wearing sandals, a diamond crucifix and sunglasses, decorated the set in white drapes and candles, and projected the artwork of his forthcoming album 'Alone With Everybody' across the room.

Ashcroft started the set with his debut solo single, 'A Song For The Lovers', before playing an acoustic version of The Verve‘s 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'. Ashcroft then showcased four more tracks from his new album - 'You On My Mind In My Dreams', 'On a Beach', 'Money To Burn', and 'Get My Beat'.

• NME

Richard Ashcroft - Mean Magazine feature

In person in New York City for Mean Magazine feature:

Jay Babcock: Ok. I got a title already: from "Mad Richard" to "Dad Richard."

Richard Ashcroft: [chuckles] I was waiting for that one. [Laughter]

Jay Babcock: has anyone used that one yet?

Richard Ashcroft: Nope. [Laughter]

Jay Babcock: so I’ve only had the album a few days, still absorbing it, etc. I was wondering, are you finding it easier to write about ....a lot of the stuff is positive and uplifting, and yeah that was there before on verve songs like lucky man... But, sometimes people find it easier to express anger or sadness or criticism but have a hard time expressing joy.

Richard Ashcroft: Oh yeah.

Jay Babcock: do you have that problem now?

Richard Ashcroft: Do I have that problem expressing joy?

Jay Babcock: yeah.

Richard Ashcroft: Um. I don't know if I have a problem expressing joy, but the difficulty is making an album, a piece of music that really does reflect life rather than the one dimension. I have a problem in trying to make a complete trip record. I've found it easier and easier over the last two or three years to...I mean, I was lying in Central Park, doing a spiff with a couple of friends yesterday, just watching this...the nearest thing to a festival, really, what festivals used to be like, it seemed like to me, this mad expression of life. That was a moment, I'll never forget that ten minutes, fifteen minutes that lasted. And to me it's about now, somehow, I've got to put that moment down onto record, into a song, I've got to put that feeling that I felt that moment somehow onto record. And I've found that that's getting a little bit easier to express the beauty in life.

Jay Babcock: did you have trouble before?

Richard Ashcroft: I think so, yeah. I think I had trouble.

Jay Babcock: the early records are darker...